TMNT - Unbalanced
by Ithilear
Summary: Raphael has something he wants to say to Karai...with his fists. But before their battle is over, will one or both of them lose their balance? (One-shot)


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 **TMNT – Raphael & Karai – Unbalanced**

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 **TWO DISCLAIMERS: First, I do not own TMNT.**

 **Second, I DO NOT SHIP KARAPH, lol. I am a die-hard Leorai shipper.**

 **However, someone left me a review requesting that I write a RaphaelxKarai fanfic, so I did!**

 **I feel a little like I am betraying Leorai, lol, but I saw it as a good writing challenge/learning experience,**

 **so I jumped at the chance! I hope you like it and it seems in character and all that.**

 **Please let me know what you think!**

 **And as always,**

 **Thanks for reading!**

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"That's right," Raphael growled under his breath. "You'd better walk away."

He was cleverly hidden from the sight of two people who had just finished sparring – one he loved, and the other he hated.

"Just keep going. Leave him alone."

He snarled watching Karai leap off the nearby rooftop. Leo stood, watching her for a few moments, before turning and jumping to the street below, making his way home to the lair. Raph gritted his teeth. _So that's where Leo's been sneaking off to when no one's looking. He's been looking for HER._ His palms squeaked quietly as he gripped the handles of his sai as hard as he could. _Why, I oughta….stop him, or tell Splinter, or….stop her…._

After a moment's hesitation, Raphael decided to leave his hiding place and go after Karai.

 _I'll put a stop to this. I won't go easy on her. Once and for all…she's going to leave him…our whole family…alone._

He knew that catching her off guard wouldn't be easy. Much as he disliked her, he had to admit that her skills as a kunoichi were formidable. As stealthily as he'd ever been in his life, he headed in the direction of the last building he'd seen her on and started looking from there. For some time, he saw and heard no sign of her. The nighttime noises of the city surrounded him like elevator music; he payed them no attention. Straining to hear anything out of the ordinary…hushed footsteps, faint breaths, the soft scrape of steel on a sheath…Raph yelled and nearly jumped out of his shell when her sultry voice suddenly penetrated the darkness behind him: "You come here often?"

He had been peering down through the bars and grates of a fire escape to see if she had gone down that alley; this particular rooftop wasn't well-lit at all, and he'd appreciated the cover the deeper shadows and darkness had afforded him. Now, his face flushed with embarrassment and anger, he spun to face her, sai drawn and aimed at her throat and heart. She jumped back as he turned, and stood now a pace or two out of range, smirking smugly at him while resting her hands on her hips. "Well? I usually see Leo prowling these rooftops at this time of night, but you? This is a first. What's the occasion?" she purred.

Raph smirked back, but a barely-contained fire burned in his eyes. "You are, sweetheart. What're _you_ doing out here with MY BROTHER?!" he demanded. Still aiming his sai at Karai, he stepped to his right, and she followed suit. They began to circle each other in a dangerous dance; it was obvious to her that Raph was furious about seeing her and Leo sparring together, and that he meant her some serious harm. She gave a mischievous, sideways grin. _He's angry. He should know better…NEVER attack in anger._

With tantalizing slowness Karai drew her tanto from its sheath at the back of her waist and wielded it with both hands. They both moved in and out of the shadows, but their eyes, locked on one another, never broke their gaze. Raphael growled impatiently. "I _said_ …what're you doing out here with _my brother?_ " His voice was quieter now, but more dangerous. _Cute_ , she thought. "You don't like it if Leonardo gets some extra sparring in? Afraid he's going to get better than you? Well…he already _is_ , but…" she teased.

Her taunting worked; Karai lured him into attacking first, and not with a clear head. Raph yelled and sprang at her, but she was ready; with her blade she blocked and parried the flurry of blows he aimed at her. Trying to catch him off guard, she suddenly ducked and spun with one leg extended, attempting to take his legs out from under him. It almost worked, but he realized what was happening too soon, and turned the force of her sweep into a back-flip that put a small space between them. They both remained hunched and tense, ready for the other to attack.

"You're better than I thought you'd be," Karai said silkily. She admitted to herself, _For someone so angry, his fighting is surprisingly effective…_ "Oh, yeah? Wish I could say the same for you," Raph sneered. She grinned. "Maybe by the end of the night, you will…" He scoffed. "Fat chance."

Before he finished uttering those two words, Karai pounced, quicker than he could blink. She drove her left shoulder into his plastron and used her right arm to hook behind his knees and pull them toward her. This time, it worked. Raph fell onto the rooftop, flat on his shell, with a loud _WHUMP._ Instantly she was on him, her knees and elbows digging into his legs and arms. It wasn't the neatest, nor most effective, pin she'd ever executed, but she knew she'd "scored a point", and that he'd hate her for it. She grinned wickedly at him, her face hovering inches above his. "What do you think now, Sweetheart?" Her voice, dripping with sugary sweet sarcasm, pushed him over the edge. She could hear his teeth grinding.

With almost no momentum to aid him, Raph twisted his body to push Karai off him to the side. Instead of letting her go, however, he flipped and pressed her onto her stomach and pinned her, gripping her right wrist with his right hand and extending it uncomfortably out to her side. He growled into her ear, "Remember this? You're still not as slick as you think…"

Karai remembered all too well that night at the Worldwide Genome Project building, when, despite her best efforts at stealth, Raphael still managed to sneak up on _her_ and pin her exactly the way he just did. She snickered and coolly replied, "I remember. And do you remember _this_?" His eyes went wide; he gripped her hand tighter, but not soon enough. She twisted her right hand around to grip his and yanked on his arm while rising swiftly from the rooftop. Her momentum sent him into the air; she stood in a flash, raised her right leg high in a vertical split, and brought her foot crashing down onto his plastron, slamming him onto his shell. She arched a brow and smirked down at him. "I still have my moments…"

Raph glared at her with all the venom he could muster. They both knew what came next; he flipped up onto his feet, and she sprang back. "I'm enjoying our little reenactment. We should do this again sometime," Karai teased. Raph snarled. "Not if I can help it!" He sprang toward her and attacked her again and again with his sai, yelling one word with each strike: "LEAVE! MY! FAMILY! ALONE!"

Karai was somewhat taken aback. For such a rampaging, furious fighter, he did seem very capable of focusing and channeling his anger into his ninjitsu. _He is a fierce opponent_ , she thought, blocking another attack. _Until he makes a mistake, that is. Anger almost always leads to mistakes. I just have to watch for the chink in his armor, and use it against him._ Raph was relentless. His attacks came one after another and showed no sign of slowing or stopping. Karai began to lose ground, taking a step back here and there to keep him from closing in. _He doesn't want me to walk away from this fight…_

For several more minutes, the ring and clash of steel on steel bounced off the rooftop and echoed on the street. Their breathing turned to panting from the exertion of their battle. Sweat began to steam from Karai's skin into the cool night air. _Now I know where to go when I need a workout!_ Karai thought. When she and Leo sparred they were very closely matched, and their skirmishes were more about matching skill against skill – mental and physical. Raph was an all-out brawler, and looked as if he could keep up this pace all night. He was in his element in a scrap. He almost seemed…joyful…as he swung at her head.

Karai was obviously no rookie in a fight; far from it. Shredder had forced her to train longer and harder than she thought herself capable for as long as she could remember, always pushing her to break through what she thought were her limits. Still…Raphael was giving her a run for her money. This was as intense a match as any of the Foot had given her – except Shredder.

 _Enough's enough._ Karai had seen enough of his fighting skills and style to have an idea of how to end this – on her terms. She waited until there was a little distance between them, and taunted, "Well, you sure do know how to show a girl a good time." She smirked as he sneered. "You think this is a good time?! C'mere, and I'll _show_ you a good time!"

"If you insist." She rushed in and swung at his belt in a wide arc with her tanto. The tip of the blade nicked the worn, brown leather. He cursed under his breath as he leaped backwards, moving closer to the stairwell entrance doors. "Watch it!" he yelled, spinning his sai in his hands. "Or what, Raph?" Karai cooed. "You'll hurt me? Isn't that what you've been trying to do since I got here?" He scowled at her.

"DON'T call me Raph! Only my brothers do."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know…Raph."

He roared and lunged at her. She jumped into the air before he reached her, placed her left hand on his shell, and cart-wheeled off his back to land behind him. He spun faster than she'd anticipated though, and before she could attack him from behind, as she'd hoped, he slammed his body into hers and drove her back, using his full weight and every ounce of strength he had to pin her to the locked door at her back. Karai gasped for air; the force of his heavily muscled form hurling into her slender frame drove every wisp of air from her lungs. His face was only an inch from hers, his eyes boring into hers with rage. She could feel his panting breaths on her neck, envious that he could breathe while she could not.

"Must've struck a nerve," she whispered weakly. Raphael's scowl deepened. Her hands tightened their grip around…nothing. _Nothing?! Where is my sword?_ She saw a glint on the roof behind Raph – there it lay, harmless and useless. She couldn't access any of her weapons or ninja tools, pinned as she was. He stretched her arms over her head and held them with a painful, merciless grip. When he had forced her back, he had pushed her off her feet; now his knees dug cruelly into her thighs. His hard plastron pressed against her steel breastplate, making a dry scraping sound if either of them breathed in deeply. His strength, weight, and determination kept her pinned against her will.

 _Now what?_ Karai's mind raced as her lungs recovered. She met Raph's fiery gaze. He spoke, his voice perilously low and deep: "Stay away from my family. If you do anything to harm any of them, I WILL hurt you. I promise," he hissed. Karai stared back at him, never flinching. _Now what?!_ She kept thinking of how to get away from this powerful, irate, mutant, whose strength far surpassed her expectations. _Think, Karai. He's trapped you physically, but not mentally. Think. What would Father say?_

"Understand, Karai?" He pressed into her more, making it even harder for her already breathless lungs to get a full gulp of air. His hands gripped her wrists so tightly her hands were beginning to go numb from lack of circulation.

 _"Remember, Karai…as a kunoichi, you are never without options. Never underestimate the element of surprise. Do the last thing your enemy would expect. Unbalance him, and you can tip the scales of the battle in your favor."_

As she glared back at Raph, seeing all the hatred and fury he felt toward her burning in his gaze, it struck her: _He expects me to hate him back. And I do. But right now, that's not what he needs to think…_ With effort, Karai managed to calm her thoughts, emotions, and breathing. Her gaze became peaceful – serene, even. Raph noted the change, but didn't really care. All he wanted then was to intimidate her into staying away from his family…especially Leo. _I hate to admit it, but we need his leadership…he doesn't need to have his head in the clouds with some enemy chick distracting him. …Even if she is kinda hot._

Karai blinked slowly as they stared at each other. Gradually, she began to push away from the door and press her body into his with equal pressure. A low grumble emitted from his throat. She looked into his eyes deeply for another moment. Raph could feel that something was coming, but didn't know what to expect.

He didn't know what hit him. In a flash, she was firmly pressing her delicate mouth to his. Raph tried to yell at her to quit, but backing away from her kiss would also mean releasing her, and it would not be easy to pin her so effectively a second time. _I'm not letting her go until she tells me what I want to hear!_ His protests rumbled in his throat, but died upon her lips. She hummed faintly in response.

Pressed against each other as they were, their lips eventually began to slide into each other, interlocking them. She was surprised at how smooth his skin was; despite its color and slight coolness compared with her own, his mouth felt quite…human. _Is that….pizza, I taste?_ She murmured softly. _Not bad_ …c _ould be worse_.

Raphael couldn't believe what was happening. Never in a million years did he imagine he'd be pinning Karai on a rooftop one second, and letting her kiss him the next. He stubbornly didn't want to admit it, but…her lips were the softest things he'd ever felt in his life. And…they fit perfectly with his. He inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of cherry blossoms and sweat on her skin. Rage still burned brightly in him, but now, its effect on him was changing from anger, to…ardor. He forced her back against the door even harder and tilted his head slightly, taking her bottom lip into his mouth. He ran his tongue along it with genuine curiosity. _She tastes like honey…honey and green tea._ He closed his eyes.

Karai gasped as he pressed into her and kissed her more deeply. _Can this really be happening?_ Her mind was reeling. _I thought that when I kissed him he'd be furious and let me go, but instead, he seems to be…enjoying this!_ She watched his eyes close slowly; heard him moan faintly while he continued to savour her lips, as if they were the sweetest flavor he'd ever tasted. She nibbled on his top lip as he licked her bottom one, and then, without warning…sank her teeth into the tender flesh. He yelped in pain; they both tasted his blood as he licked the wound. She glared at him and the flames in his eyes leaped up, but then he…smiled?...smiled fiendishly as he licked his lips.

If she thought that bite would entice him to free her, she was mistaken. His mouth crashed onto hers, stifling her cries while he kissed her hungrily, as if the taste of blood had only whet his appetite for more of her crimson lips. This time, she couldn't contain the moan that emanated from her ivory throat. She had never encountered so much passion and fervor before; it seemed that the same fire which fueled his fighting also stoked his heart. _No wonder he's so fiercely protective of his loved ones._ A pang of jealousy stabbed her heart. _Must be nice to have someone like Raphael looking out for you…_

Raphael felt Karai's body relax against his; at last her eyes slowly shut. _If you can't beat him, join him..._ He pressed into her eagerly. Her lips began to move with his in a furious dance. He groaned as her lips parted, granting him access to taste and explore her mouth more deeply. They inhaled and sighed together.

A siren suddenly sounded on the street below, its wail piercing the relative silence surrounding them. Their eyes flew open and they stared at each other, their lips still coupled; both seemed reluctant to break away. Finally Raph's eyes closed; he gently pulled her velvety lips a few more times with his own, relishing this last touch and savoring this last taste, before slowly, hesitantly, pulling away. She sighed and looked into his vibrant green eyes: _He can't have much, if any, experience, but he sure has some killer instincts…_ She bit her bottom lip. _Now what?_

"Karai," Raph said softly, even…gently. She raised her brows in response. He looked intensely into her eyes and said seriously, "Don't _ever_ hurt anyone in my family." She smiled faintly. _He didn't tell me to stay away that time…_ "Well if I ever do…you'll know where to find me." He frowned. That wasn't the promise he was hoping for, but it was probably all he'd ever get out of Karai. Without letting go of her arms, he brought them down to her sides and held them there. "If you ever do…I'll come for your head," he said firmly. She knew he meant it, and arched a brow. "Likewise."

They continued to stare at each other. The memory of their joined lips was still hot and fresh in their minds, but…that didn't mean they could trust each other. It had started as a ploy for Karai to escape, and they both knew it. If he released her arms, would she strike him? Blind or poison him? Just plain slap him across the face for using her bold-faced scheme for freedom as an opportunity to take such liberties? She smirked at him. "Raph…?" He growled and snapped, "What?!"

"How about a temporary truce?"

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do I know you'll honor it?"

She grinned. "Because I could get away from you right now, if I wanted to. Your grip, if I can even call it that, wouldn't hold a pigeon captive." He realized how gently he was holding her biceps and knew she was right. He scowled. "Alright, I'll let you go. But remember what I said." He slid his hands down her arms before releasing them. She smiled mischievously. "Alright…but you just remember what I _did_." Her voice was beguiling. He swallowed hard. _I won't be forgetting that anytime soon, believe me…_

He stepped back and allowed her to walk to her tanto. With the flick of one foot she sent it into the air to be grabbed and sheathed in the blink of an eye. Raph watched her cautiously, his expression becoming guarded once more. _What were you THINKING, Raph? You came here to make her stay away, and ended up…ended up…_ His pulse raced. His eyes followed her every move as she walked slowly toward the roof's edge, pulling her fingers through her raven hair and checking her armor and equipment. He shook his head. _Snap out of it, Raph. She's the enemy. She's gonna get you killed, with you acting like this._

"Raphael?" Karai's honeyed voice came from the ledge to his left. He glanced at her warily. She smiled seductively. "You really _do_ know how to show a girl a good time." His heart skipped a beat as she vanished into the shadows and melded with the night.

Raph stared after her blankly.

Before long, guilt and regret began to sink in. _What the heck did you do that for, Raph?! You know how Leo feels about her… You know she's no good for him, and she's DEFINITELY no good for you… She's dangerous… She's the Foot… She's the enemy… She's just messing with your head, playing mind games… It's just one of her tricks…_ Raph kicked himself all the way to Brooklyn and back again, until the sun was dangerously close to rising and the city that never slept was getting busier by the minute. No matter how hard he tried to tell himself how stupid he had been, some other part of his brain offered reminders of the smell of her skin, the touch of her lips, the warmth and taste of her tongue… He shuddered and grimaced. _Of all the stupid things you've ever done, Raph…this one takes the cake._

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(Author's note: Thanks again for reading! I don't know if any of you've noticed, but I keep editing and tweaking this story, lol. I might add even more to it later. I was just so eager to write and post it, that, while I was certainly happy with the story when I first shared it, I keep seeing things I can improve, words that would be more expressive, etc., and I'm continuously fine-tuning it, hehe. Please let me know what you think! Thanks!)


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